5 Takeaways: Beechwood vs St. Henry

The St. Henry Crusaders defeated the Beechwood Tigers 55-33.  This game was never particularly close, as St. Henry's defense created turnovers and made it extremely difficult for Beechwood to score, leading the Crusaders to pull away early and never look back.  Here are some takeaways of who and what stood out the most. <strong>St. Henry has a strong defense- </strong>The clear strength of this St. Henry team is its defense that creates turnovers and makes it extremely difficult for their opponent to get the ball up the court, let alone actually get into their offense.  Senior guard <strong>Abby Millay</strong> and junior guard <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/morgan-flanagan/">Morgan Flanagan</a> </strong>led the charge in this regard, as it seemed like almost every possession one of them was deflecting a pass or coming up with a loose ball to start a crusader fast break.  Everyone else on the team contributed to this lockdown defense as well. <strong>Their transition offense is strong too- </strong>When I saw St. Henry a month ago, their defense was strong but they couldn't convert the turnovers they created into offense.  Things were different Friday, as they made smart passes in transition and converted the opportunities those passes created.  Senior guard <strong>Camryn Johnson</strong> was their best passer, consistently setting up her teammates with wide-open layups.  While the scoring was very evenly shared, freshmen <strong>Faith McNamara </strong>and <strong>Amanda Schlueter </strong>were the team's best at converting around the basket in transition. <strong>Carlie Arlinghaus is the standout for Beechwood- </strong>The Tigers had trouble scoring all game, but <strong>Arlinghaus</strong> was their one successful offensive player most of the way.  The junior scored all 12 of their points in the first half and ended up with 18 overall.  She was the only Tiger able to score at the rim, and she stepped outside to knock down several 3 pointers as well.  She added 4 rebounds to round out her team-best performance. <strong>Maya Reis was the only Tiger who stood a chance against the press-</strong> As detailed earlier, the St. Henry press wreaked havoc with Beechwood's offense, making it difficult for them to do much of anything on offense.  While turnovers were plentiful for the Tigers, <strong>Reis</strong> was the one player who was even able to get the ball across half-court on a consistent basis.  The freshman guard had the best handle of anyone on the court and made some nice passes as well.  While her contributions may not show up on the stat sheet, in ways she was just as valuable to Beechwood as Arlinghaus. <strong>There was good inside play both ways- </strong>Without a lot of set offense, the focus for both teams revolved around getting the ball inside.  This created the need for good play inside from both teams in a number of regards.  Crusaders' senior forward <strong>Katie Evans</strong> was the game's best rebounder, emerging through the chaos to pull down 8 boards.  Beechwood junior forward <strong>Hanna Mueller</strong> was the best interior defender, blocking several shots when given the chance to defend the rim.  Mentioned previously, St. Henry's <strong>McNamara </strong>and Beechwood's <strong>Arlinghaus</strong> were the games best at scoring in the interior. &nbsp; &nbsp;